Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Ephesians 5:23

ὅτι�. On the figure of ‘the Head,’ cf. on Ephesians 1:22. It is applied as here to the relation of husband to wife in 1 Corinthians 11:3. Only there Christ is spoken of as Head of every man individually and not as here as Head of the Church. The position in regard to the race is a development of the thought of Christ as the Second Adam. See Hort Chr. Eccl. p. 151.

αὐτὸς. Himself—by His own act—or in His own person; cf. Ephesians 2:14.

σωτὴρ τοῦ σώματος. Christ is called Saviour in St Paul outside the Pastoral Epistles (4) only in Philippians 3:20. In the rest of the N.T. only in Luke 2:11; Acts 5:31; Acts 13:23; John 4:42; 1 John 4:14; 2 Pet. (5). For its use as an Imperial Title see Deissmann, Light from Ancient East, pp. 368 ff. The nature of the salvation is defined in Acts 5:31, ἀρχηγὸν καὶ σωτῆρα … τοῦ δοῦναι μετάνοιαν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἄφεσιν ἁματριῶν. In Acts 13:23 there is no definition. It may, however, be implied in the closing words of the speech Acts 13:39, ἐν τούτῳ πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων δικαιοῦται. In Philippians 3:20, the salvation lies in the future and is closely connected with the transformation of ‘the body of our humiliation.’ It might be possible therefore to take the salvation of the body here as referring to the consecration of sexual relations of which St Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 6:13-15. But τὸ σῶμα can hardly be anything else than the Church esp. as Christ has just been described as κεφαλή, cf. Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 4:16. The salvation therefore is no doubt to be understood in the light of Ephesians 5:23-25. The thought is introduced here because the Headship had been displayed most clearly in the sacrifice by which the salvation had been wrought out (cf. Acts 5:31, ἀρχηγὸν καὶ σωτῆρα) and because the same sacrifice constitutes His final claim on our allegiance, cf. 1 Corinthians 6:20.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Ephesians 5:23

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